Living Death
by quicksilvertongue
Summary: A strange new student arrives at the DWMA, and the vagueness of her situation causes suspicion, especially when Kid finds out who she's connected to and the trouble that will result from her presence in Death City. Starts off a few months after the anime ended, Crona is referred to as male, Death the Kid x OC, and a couple ocs are related to canon characters
1. Prologue

A girl with bob cut hair as black as pitch, skin pale as the dead, and bright golden eyes hidden behind her round glasses stood at the foot of Death City. She was looking for a new start once again, but in the depths of her mind, she knew it would end just the same as before. After all, only the insane do the exact same thing over and over again, expecting the results to change.

"I don't see why this is of any concern to me, father." Death the Kid stood before Lord Death in what was seen as a sort of headmaster's office of the Death Weapon Meister Academy. "She's just a new student... correct?"

"I just want you to keep an eye on her, you don't need to worry so much!" As expected, Lord Death avoided specifics on a subject that seemed strange to Kid.

"Alright." He replied with a sigh. "You said that she would be here today?"

"Yup!" Lord Death turned to his mirror and brought up an image of a pitch haired girl walking through the streets of the city. "She should be here soon. Why don't you wait for her at the front doors so you can show her around the school?"

Kid simply nodded and left, still curious about what was so special about the girl. He walked past Professor Stein coming in, making his wonder grow.

"Ah, Stein! I'm sorry for making you leave your class, but I have a few things to talk to you about."

"I hope it's important. I was in the middle of a dissection."

"Of course!" Lord Death's tone soon took on a more suis serious sound. "The girl is here. I've asked Kid to keep track of her."

"Oh really? That's rather strange. I thought she would go to New York. Do you think something made her break the pattern?"

"That's precisely why I called you here. She had sent in an application to be a student here just yesterday." Stein was concerned now.

"And you're telling me now? Does Nikola know? Or Michelle?"

"I don't think so. Michelle is still in France, and I haven't gotten any report of Nikola moving."

With a sigh, Stein blew smoke in no particular direction. 'This could be the break we've been waiting for...' he thought.

"After the incident with Alex, Shi and Nikola have both been laying low, as usual. I've taken the precautions of keeping Alex away, but her family is here in Death City, so I don't know how long that can last."

"Okay. Have you told Spirit yet?" To that, Stein received a chuckle with Lord Death back to his normal, cheery demeanor.

"No, he might get in the way. Or give Alex a reason to come. Or spill something to Maka. Any number of things could happen, and I'm not going to risk any mistakes again. Anyway, you can go back to your class now, Stein."

Without another word, Stein turned and left, with both a feeling of dread and of excitement.


	2. Chapter One

"And since it is 5th period, this is where your class is." Kid had guided the new girl all around the school by then, ending in front of Stein's classroom. She shared all but one class with Kid, though the EAT course students' schedules were typically set up that way.

The girl, other than giving a small introduction at the start of the tour, had remained silent as they walked, never having any questions. She was somewhat off-putting, and the longer he remained in her presence, the more curious Kid got. It certainly didn't help either that it was very hard to see her soul. The most he got was that it was a dull steel gray, and half of it was covered up. He concluded that a rather weak and not very well made barrier was put there to keep people from seeing whatever was beneath.

'Whatever she is, I need to keep my guard up.' Kid thought as he knocked on the classroom door 8 times before promptly opening it.

"Ah, I see you've finally decided to join us, Kid." Stein turned his chair to look at the two newcomers with a small smirk.

"I was simply escorting the new student, as I was instructed to by my father." With that, Kid left the girl's side and walked up to his seat next to Liz and Patty. The girl walked to Stein's desk, her footsteps loud in the tense quiet room, as if the dread of death had settled in the atmosphere.

"Please introduce yourself." Stein, seemingly unfazed, said. The girl nodded and turned to face the class.

"My name is Ashley Disu, though it would be appreciated if you would simply address me as Ash." The turned halfway back to get further instructions from Stein.

"You can sit in the empty seat next to your little escort." He said with a wave of his hand. Ash walked up to the seat at the end of the third row.

"Patty would you please just switch seats? As the meister I should sit in the middle so that we are arranged symmetrically." Kid was whispering.

"But Kid! I wanna sit next to Liz this time!" Patty whispered back stubbornly.

"It is bad enough that the seats are not in the middle of the row, so I refuse to sit to the side!"

"Kid, it's just for one period. Could you deal with it for just one period?" Liz quietly intervened.

"Is something wrong?" Stein called up to the group. "Because if not, I would suggest you be quiet and pay attention to the lesson. Unless you want to be my next subject that is." His smirk revealed just how much he would enjoy taking a look around the insides of a grim reaper, which silenced Kid reluctantly.

"At least you are sitting between two weapons still." He heard Ash mumble as Stein returned to the blackboard. He was surprised by the comment.

"If you say so." Kid replied with a light sigh.

"I know it's not much, but a little reassurance is better than none." Ash glanced over at him, her face holding a very subtle smile that further surprised him.

"In that case, thank you."

"Pleasure to be of assistance."


	3. Chapter Two

During the course of fifth period, Ash seemed to be slightly annoyed. As soon as the bell rang, she stood up and dashed out of the room before anyone could say anything.

"Wow, she ran out quick!" Patty exclaimed to her sister as she skipped down the steps to the floor.

"That was kind of strange," Liz replied before mumbling, "then again, who here isn't?"

"She probably just wants to make sure she gets to her next class on time, since it's her first day." Maka said after walking over with Soul by her side.

"Ash has lunch next though." With crossed arms, Kid had a slightly worried look. 'And I'm supposed to keep track of her...'

"Then she must be really hungry then! Let's hurry to so we can have her sit at our table, okay?" Patty ran out the door with Liz in tow. Maka sighed as she, Soul, and Kid finally left the classroom.

"Out of curiosity, do you know where Black Star and Tsubaki are?" Kid asked as they moved through the crowded hallway.

"Oh yeah, they took off today for some mission in Oregon. At least Ash's first impression of the school won't be too bad because he's not here..." Maka replied. "She's in for a rude awakening when he gets back Friday though."

They eventually caught up to Liz and Patty at the cafeteria doors, and when they walked in, Ash was nowhere to be seen. Patty insisted on looking around while the others got in line, got their lunch, and sat down at their table.

Patty gave up after looking around once, but after she got her lunch, she saw Ash standing by, looking around for an empty table.

"Hey Ash!" Patty said as she hurried over. "You should come sit with us!"

"Wha-" Before she could protest, Ash was being dragged by the strap of her messenger bag and to the mostly full table.

She was forced to sit down on the end, next to someone with pinkish hair and a strange black thing sticking out of his back.

"Who's this chick? She looks almost as pathetic as you, Crona." The black thing said rudely.

"D-don't be mean to her, Ragnaroc, you don't know her..." Crona seemed even more uncomfortable than usual as he sat next to Ash, who kept her head down as she ate.

"If you really thought that, you might actually do something about it." Maka, who sat to the left of Crona, said. She immediately received a glare from Ragnaroc because of it.

"Just what are you trying to say, bookworm?"

"You're nicer than you make yourself out to be. You just put up the tough guy act so that you won't be picked on, especially ever since you became smaller." She smirked and continued to eat like she wasn't in danger of starting a fight.

"Why I oughta'-" Crona shoved a piece of bread in Ragnaroc's mouth with the hope of pacifying him. He eagerly swallowed it whole before smacking Crona.

"I was saying something you idiot!"

"I-i just don't want you to start a fight..."

"What was that? You want a fight? Come on washboard, let's take this outside!" Ragnaroc started poking and pulling Crona's cheek, and Maka was steaming from the way he referred to her.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, washboard."

At that moment, a thick hardcover book landed hard on his head and he let out a yelp. Crona cringed as Maka proceeded to get up.

"I'm not going to deal with you today. I'll see you guys later." Leaving that comment, the table soon grew quiet. Until a soft voice spoke out.

"That was a tad dramatic." They turned to look at Ash, who was nearly done with her food. She looked up and met their puzzled gazes. "Hm?"

"She usually is like that." Kid, who sat diagonally from her, replied.

"Yeah, I'm just glad it wasn't me this time. Anyway, I should probably go after her. See ya." Soul hurriedly got up to throw away his food and rush after Maka, who was probably on her way to the library.

"So, where are you from, Ash?" Liz, sitting on the far side of Kid, decided to probe the new girl. She took a moment to think before answering.

"I travel around a lot." The vague answer left an awkward feeling amongst the remaining occupants of the table.

"Where did you live before coming to Death City?"

"Europe."

"Um... Why do you travel around?"

"Personal issues."

"What about your family?"

She took a longer pause, keeping an unreadable expression.

"It's complicated."

"Is there anything you can tell us?" This time Kid took a shot at opening her out.

"I'm a universal weapon, so I can turn into any weapon I've seen."

"Really? That's so cool! Can you turn into something right now?" Patty asked excitedly, though earning no special reaction from Ash.

"Maybe another time."

"Let's all meet at the park after school! We can tell Maka and Soul about it next period, and you can come too Crona!"

"Patty, I don't believe they have-"

"I-if Maka is going, I wouldn't mind..."

"Geez, do you have a crush on her or something? You're like a lost little puppy the way you hang around her all the time."

"N-no! I... I just... feel more comfortable... around her..." Crona's voice got quieter as he kept talking.

"I was planning on staying home. Alone." Ash tried to subtly get out of it, but Patty wouldn't give up.

"You shouldn't have to be alone, especially after making friends on your first day!"

Ash had the intent of glaring at the happy-go-lucky blonde sitting across from her, but it turned out softer and mistaken as a look of hope. Patty's bright blue eyes looked back at her joyously, and she caved in.

"Okay." Patty immediately jumped up out of her seat gleefully.

"Hooray! It'll be right after school at Baron Saturday Park, so we can all walk there together!"

'Here we go again... I'm sorry...' Ash thought before going to throw away her trash.


	4. Chapter Three

As soon as the end of the day bell rang, Ash jumped out of her seat. Before she could get to the door though, Patty took a hold of her arm and dragged her back to walk with everyone else.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Maka asked.

"I just am..." Ash reluctantly stood between Patty and Kid, much to his dismay because of the lack of symmetry.

"Do Europeans always drive on the wrong side of the road?" Patty decided to try getting Ash to talk, though her question caught her completely off guard.

"What?"

"Do Europeans always drive on the wrong side of the road?" She repeated as Ash took a moment to decide whether she should be sarcastic or defensive.

"Please elaborate."

"They drive on the left, right?" With a sigh, Ash tried to figure out how to explain it.

"While I've never heard of only one side of a road being used, since that would likely cause many crashes, I can say that some countries have roads where the system is the reverse of how they are here."

"Why do you not have an accent?"

"I'm American," Ash then switched to a British accent to say "but I can use many other accents." Then she said with a Russian accent, "but also, American is an accent. There's no way to speak without one." Patty giggled.

"What other accents can you do?" With a sigh, Ash began to say various things in varying accents, each one causing the merry blonde to smile and laugh as if it were a comedy.

"I guess you have to ask the right questions to get her to talk." Maka said to Soul.

"I just hope she's not one of those people who doesn't stop talking once she starts..."

"Heh, you never know. She seems a bit sarcastic too."

By the time the group arrived at the park, Patty had gotten Ash to speak in 23 different accents, 20 different languages, sing three national anthems, admit to being anti-social, have a book quoting contest with Maka, and manage to get Kid to stop complaining about the asymmetrical formation of the group.

Patty rushed over to the swing set with Liz following close behind because she knew that her little sister would want her to push her on the swing. Ash sat still on the second swing, Soul and Kid sat on the bench, and Crona stood off to the side with Maka.

"Her soul is weird, I don't know how to deal with that sort of thing..." Crona whispered, glancing at Ash. Maka tried looking at her soul, but thought it looked completely normal. In fact, it looked like a normal human human soul, which was strange for a weapon, especially one so special.

"It looks normal to me, albeit strangely normal." Crona's eyes widened at this.

"B-but you can barely see it! And looks like half of it isn't even there..." Just to double check, Maka looked again, but it still looked the same.

"That's awfully strange... Why don't we ask her about it?" She took a step before Crona stopped her.

"What if she's a witch or something?"

"Let's ask Kid what he thinks first then, and then we can ask her, okay?"

"I-if you say so..."

When they approached Kid, he looked up curiously at their unusual expressions. They asked him to look at Ash's soul, and he recalled what he saw earlier.

"In that case, I did see the same thing as you, Crona. I'm not sure what it is, but I was planning on asking my father about it."

"That sounds pretty messed up though. How come Maka saw one thing and you guys saw something else. Does that happen often?" Soul asked. Maka started walking over to Ash.

"Not as far as I know. Hey Ash?"

The quiet girl looked up from the notebook she was sketching in.

"Hm?"

"Would you happen to know why your soul looks so strange. It looks strangely normal to me, but Crona and Kid say that it's abnormal and half of it is missing."

Ash seemed to freeze, staring at the straightforward girl standing about 3 feet away. The whole group felt the same weird, dreadful feeling as when they first met her, only it was stronger. There was something in her bright eyes that spelled death as she gazed in thought. Maka felt the need to look away, walk away, and just crawl into a hole and die, but that just motivated her more to stay.

Ash's gaze flickered over to Kid as she opened her mouth to reply.


End file.
